>Much has been said on this list about petroleum being covertly >subsidized, but without specifics. > >I would be grateful for a reference to information on this topic, >because I am unable to reconcile the claim that petroleum is the >beneficiary of hidden subsidies with the high rate of excise taxation of >petroleum products. The easiest way to subsidize something, after all, >is tax relief. > >Marc de Piolenc
Below, from the list archives. Best Keith Addison Journey to Forever Handmade Projects Tokyo http://journeytoforever.org/ http://users.ccnet.com/~suntzu75/news_archives/mil97108.htm Friday December 5, 1997 1:38 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: Fuels for the Future 'True Cost' of Middle East Oil Exceeds $100 Per Barrel, U.S. Desert Storm Military Leader Says; Ethanol Cleans Air In Brazil NEW YORK, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Wall Street Journal readers have been straightened out on the benefits of domestic ethanol, and it took a former commander of the U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command and principal air planner for Operation Desert Storm to do it: The true cost of importing oil from the Middle East "exceeds $100 a barrel," retired Air Force Gen. G. Lee Butler wrote the newspaper in a published letter entitled "Fuel Grade Ethanol: Let's Clear the Air." Gen. Butler, of Omaha, Neb., is chairman of the Clean Fuels Foundation. As chief air planner for Desert Storm, he was a central figure in the military might put together by U.S. and allied forces to free Kuwait from the invasion by Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces. The acknowledged purpose of Desert Storm was to protect oil imports for the U.S. -- which Gen. Butler finds costly indeed. Answering previous letter-to-the-editor writers in the Wall Street Journal, Gen. Butler noted that no mention was made of "the true cost of imported oil." "When externalities such as environmental and health costs, the loss of domestic jobs and basic industries, the trade deficit, commitments of military resources to ensure the free flow of oil from the Middle East and threats to our energy and national security are included, the true cost of imports even now exceeds $100 a barrel, according to the General Accounting Office," Gen. Butler wrote. Gen. Butler also said production of ethanol and other biofuels from feed grains and oilseeds..."must ensure environmental integrity from the dirt to the tailpipe," and noted that modern farming practices save topsoil, not erode it. "As the nation commercializes the conversion of ethanol and other biofuels from cellulosic biomass, the planting of grasses and trees on erodible land will bring increased levels of top soil to farm lands, a process already well under way," he said. Responding to comments about ethanol's wide use as automotive fuel in Brazil, Gen. Butler said: "Essentially all cars in Brazil run on ethanol, either in blends of 22 percent ethanol/78 percent gasoline or 99 percent ethanol...They run well and the public is pleased." Gen. Butler said "air quality in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with a population of 14 million, is better than in Los Angeles, New York City or Houston, Texas." Gen. Butler's response was the latest in a series of discussions of ethanol in the Wall Street Journal, following an article by former director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, R. James Woolsey, who wrote: "Replacing gasoline with biomass-derived ethyl alcohol would greatly reduce man-made greenhouse-gas emissions... "Over the past 15 years the cost of producing a gallon of alcohol from corn has been cut in half," Woolsey, a Washington lawyer, said, "to about $1 a gallon. If the new technology were to make it possible for costs to fall another 30 to 40 cents, alcohol would become competitive with gasoline when oil reaches around $25 a barrel." Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
